Object Description
After the Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles of Athens, one of antiquity’s greatest sculptors. The goddess’s body is sensitively modelled. She stands here in a contrapposto stance as she prepares for her ritual bath, her weight resting on her left leg.
The Aphrodite of Knidos was considered by the Ancients to be one of the world’s greatest works of art. Now only known through replicas, it marked a new milestone in the history of art, being one of the first ancient Greek depictions of a fully nude female figure.
‘When Cypris saw Cypris at Cnidus, “Alas!” said she; “where did Praxiteles see me naked?”‘
Plato (c. 428-348 BC), Epigram XVII